February 22, 2026

Pastor Marco Ambriz

Introduction

Icebreaker: When you’re stressed, sad, or tired, what’s the food or drink you instinctively reach for?

The Lent season has begun. This sermon series is entitled Full on Empty, exploring the spiritual practice of fasting and how temporarily giving up something good can help Christians refocus on God as their true source of sustenance. 

With John 6 in mind, and Jesus as the “bread of life,” we reflect on how we often forget their spiritual hunger amid stress, grief, busyness, or excitement. Intentional Christ-centered fasting can recalibrate the heart toward deeper awareness of God, worship, and justice.

Jesus as the “Bread of Life” (John 6)

Read John 6:30–35. 

Jesus compares Himself to manna from heaven. Jesus is the true bread who gives life to the world, surpassing the manna given in the wilderness. Jesus’ claim “I am the bread of life” calls people to recognize Him as their spiritual sustenance.

What Fasting Is and Isn’t

Have you ever tried giving something up—food, social media, shopping, etc.—even for a short time? What was that experience like?

Fasting IS:

• A way to recalibrate the heart and become aware of God and others.

• “Temporarily giving up something good for the purpose of spiritual focus.”

• “Denying my stomach so I can listen to God’s heart.”

Fasting IS NOT:

• Something to do if it harms your health or contradicts medical advice.

• A way to pause from sinful behavior (sin should simply be abandoned, not “fasted”).

• A form of self-punishment.

• To feel feel better about yourself

• A tool to get God’s attention or earn blessings.

Biblical and Spiritual Reasons to Fast

• Worship & thanksgiving: Fasting helps resist the life of self-indulgence (“their god is their stomach”).

• Repentance & renewal: Creates space to hear the Holy Spirit and turn back to God.

• Wisdom & clarity: Reducing consumption can help quiet distractions during big decisions.

• Protest & solidarity: Biblical fasting often aligns with resisting injustice and identifying with the oppressed.

• Lament: Fasting can express grief over suffering in the world and a longing for God’s restoration.

Modern Barriers to Feeling Hunger—Physical or Spiritual

• Constant “snacking”—food, media, busy schedules—numbs true hunger.

• Spiritually, this leads to losing awareness of our deep need for God.

• Fasting slows us down to feel that hunger again.

Reflection & Discussion

1. Where do you notice “spiritual hunger” in your own life right now, and what are some things—busyness, stress, comfort, or even good gifts—that might be dulling your appetite for God?

2. Jesus declares in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.” What does it practically look like for someone to turn to Jesus for sustenance rather than relying on other sources of fulfillment or identity?

3. Fasting can be “temporarily giving up something good for the purpose of spiritual focus.” If you were to fast from one thing this Lent—food, media, productivity, or something else—what might God be inviting you to pay attention to through that practice?